Interconnect systems refers generally to the connection of electrical or electronic devices and includes all the components necessary for connection, such as cabling, connectors for attaching cable to circuit boards or another cable, or connectors for directly attaching one component such as a circuit board to another. The present invention concerns itself particularly with projection type connector components wherein a conductive pin, or more typically, an array of a number of conductive pins, are mated with a number of similarly arrayed conductive sockets.
Such connector components may be mated and separated a large number of times and are usually employed to connect electrical cable to a device or another cable or to connect electronic devices, such as circuit boards, directly to one another. It is desirable that such connector components be as small as possible, both to conserve space and for performance reasons. The smaller the connector components the shorter the conductive path within the connector, which generally translates into the ability to transmit electrical signals at higher speeds than a connector having a larger size and longer conductive paths. Small size, however, creates its own problems in terms of the strength of the very small components, the ability to assemble such components and the fact that small, thin components will wear to a point of failure very quickly if care is not taken in their design.
One particular connector design of which applicant is aware achieves small size and high density in a projection-type connector by providing a male connector component having a square projection of electrically insulative material surrounded by four metal contacts in electrical isolation from one another. The four male contacts mate with four cantilever beam contacts arranged to form a square female socket. Each of the male contacts engages one of the beam female contacts to complete an electrical circuit, and thus four connections are achieved at a single projection.
A problem that has been recognized with the connector just described is that the female contacts first touch and slide along the surface of the insulative material forming the projection when the male connector component is mated to the female connector component. The insulative material of the projection is typically rough and abrasive, and thus the sliding motion of the female contacts relative to this material causes rapid wear and early failure of the female contact.